ORIENTAL — The race for five Oriental commissioner seats has traditionally produced the largest field of candidates of any town in the area and this year is no different.

Three incumbents and seven newcomers are on the Tuesday ballot. The top five win. Oriental has no runoff provisions other than a recount or a tie-breaker.

The pending arrival of a Walmart Express store near town has renewed discussion of issues involving the town’s lack of Extra Territorial Jurisdiction, or ETJ, a mile outside its borders and the town zoning/Growth Management Ordinance.

During an October candidates’ forum, the candidates were basically in agreement that both issues were worth review by the new board, which will be seated in December.

The candidates include incumbents Barb Venturi, Michele Bissette and Larry Summers, who was unable to attend the forum.

Summers told the Sun Journal later that the town’s ordinances in general need review. He said because of a lack of some records from the past, it was hard to understand the intent of rules beyond the applied wording in most cases.

Pamlico County is the only one of 100 North Carolina counties where municipalities of 1,000 or less population have to get legislative approval for ETJ, which extends the town’s control over development outside its limits.

Cox first brought up the issue at the top of his list of issues, supporting the town pursuing the matter.

Good urged the new board to be “proactive” on such issues regarding growth.

Overcash, a member of the planning board, said the town failed in efforts to enact ETJ several years ago and needed “more support within the town” on the matter.

Ritchie said that, on a first look, it appeared to be “regulation without representation.”

Venturi said the town had handled the matter too quickly the first time and did not have adequate time to inform the public. She added that the town should pursue it.

White called for “open communications with all the people involved.”

Oriental has had zoning, called the Growth Management Ordinance, or GMO, for more than a decade. It has been controversial since its passage and it drew calls for review and equal enforcement.

Venturi, a six-year board member, who inherited the GMO, had the strongest criticism, saying “I hate it. I think it is the most unfriendly document.”

She said it was “adequate” for residential zoning, but was hugely business-unfriendly and it doesn’t even hold together logically.

Bisette said it needed “enforcement across the board,” adding that it need to be “amended with change.”

Cox, an attorney, called the GMO “a head-scratcher,” adding it could be re-drafted, reorganized and indexed without years of work. He also said he was against “complaint-based enforcement.”

Page 2 of 2 - Good said the rules should apply with “what is good for one is good for all. And we need to enforce what we’ve got.”

Maxbauer said the GMO was in need of “serious revision,” noting that the original was “created from cut and paste” from other town’s ordinances. He said it needed to be “customized and revised for us.”

Overcash said the GMO “needs to be goal-oriented for Oriental. We need to fine-tune it.”

White, also a planning board member, called the zoning rules “good and bad,” calling to make it workable, easier to read and understand.

“It is very complex to go through, but it does contain a lot of good things that help control what goes on in our town,” he added.

Winfrey, a contractor, said the GMO permit application process was frustrating.

“It is definitely a strenuous process,” he said, adding it was “necessary,” but “truly very business unfriendly. It does definitely need revision and simplification.”

Ritchie said he was not familiar with its overall content, adding “certainly if elected, I would familiarize myself with it.”

The candidates also offered some other topics they felt were relevant to the new board.

Bissette said the town has a high concentration of retirees, but needed to look to its young people and get them involved for future leadership roles.

Cox called for the town to “get control over our water system. We don’t need to be selling water to subdivisions and commercial developments when we can barely keep it up for ourselves.”

On Friday, the current board approved water rights to the new Walmart, without a prior condition of voluntary annexation.

Good was the first of several candidates who said the board needed better communications with the citizens. She also called for “keeping the uniqueness of the town,” while promoting free enterprise.

Maxbauer said he coined a phrase as town manager, “Pride in Oriental.”

He said the town image was linked to the quality of life for residents.

Overcash listed the harbor and town maintenance, along with long-range planning as key issues.

Ritchie questioned why the town had such a large workforce, including town hall, public works and police.

Venturi said the hiring a new town manager was a priority. Former Town Manager Wyatt Cutler is serving as the interim since Maxbauer’s retirement earlier this year.

White said water access was a main issue and added that his research showed other area waterfront communities were attracting more boaters.

Winfrey agreed with Ritchie about the size of town government, especially the police department.

“We have way too much town government,” he said. “I can remember when it was taken care of on a very minimal basis.”